Dear Editor:

I am a longtime reader of your magazine. Every month when I receive a new Sinorama I must read it as quickly as I can. Today I just received volume 21, number 11 of the overseas edition in the mail, and it was with considerable happiness that I read "Journey to the Root of the Fruit-Digging up the Kiwifruits Origins." The pictures and text were both impressive, and I profited much from reading it.

Among the ethnic Chinese of New Zealand there is passed around the following legend about how the fruit which was originally called the Chinese gooseberry came to be the kiwifruit. Perhaps it can help round out your article: At one time in the past, Turners and Growers, the first and therefore the largest distributor of Chinese gooseberries, as well as the country's only wholesaler of fruits and vegetables, extended its operations to the United States. This happened to be during the fiercest period of the Korean War. Because the Chinese communists became involved in the war, the United States was indignant and indiscriminately banned the import of all products labeled "Chinese." The Chinese gooseberry thus became a forbidden fruit. When Turner and Growers, whose ship was already en route over the Pacific, got word that their product could not be imported, they had to make an immediate decision in order to avoid being turned back. After some debate, the management determined that there was only one solution-to change the name. Someone suggested naming it the New Zealand Gooseberry, after its place of origin, but this designation seemed prohibitively long. Since "kiwi" was commonly used as a nickname for New Zealand, they used kiwi as a substitute, and they replaced the word gooseberry with "fruit." This name seemed nice and easy to pronounce. It was simple and accurate. Afterward, the usage spread like wildfire, and it has persisted to this day.

I personally requested verification from the Turner and Growers company, but the event had transpired too long ago, and I could not find a certain affirmation. Nevertheless, among the Chinese who live here, this story has come to be held as the "true history."

Cheng Hsinhsien, New Zealand

A Kiwi by Any Other Name . . .

Dear Editor:

It was not until I read the article "Journey to the Root of the Fruit-Digging up the Kiwifruit's Origins," in the November (overseas) issue of Sinorama that I realized that the kiwifruit originated in China, not in New Zealand. However, you seem to be mistaken when you say (pp. 120121):" . . . the name kiwifruit has become widely established . . . , except in a few countries such as France, where the fruit are called yangtao, or Italy where the scientific genus name Actinidia is used." French and Italian friends here whom I asked all said that just as everywhere else in the world, they too use the name kiwi, not yangtao or Actinidia. French and Italian dictionaries also list the word kiwi as referring to both the bird and the fruit. Thus it would appear that in France and in Italy, the fruit is known by the name kiwi. The above is merely for the information of the article's author.

Editor's reply: We thank Mr. Ho for taking the trouble to verify the use of this word. The sentence you quote from the article was actually intended to refer to the names applied to the kiwifruit 30 years ago. Today, now that the kiwifruit has been successfully marketed around the world, the French and Italians also use the most widely used name. We should have expressed this more clearly.

Correction: In the January 1997 domestic edition of Sinorama, the caption on page 100 reads: "People all over Taiwan posted public declarations excoriating Li Hongzhang for giving away Taiwan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki." The picture this caption refers to shows the public declarations. The man portrayed directly above the caption, however, is not Li Ho`ngzhang. He is Lin Weiyuan, Speaker of the Taiwan Parliament in the former Republic of Taiwan. We sincerely apologize for this omission, and we thank our reader Mr. Lin Hanchang for this correction.